Maurice J. Colwell, 75; CSUN Sociology Professor

Maurice J. Colwell, a controversial former Cal State Northridge sociology professor, has died.

Colwell died Sunday of prostate cancer at his North Hollywood home, according to his son, John Colwell. He was 75.

His early years were spent in the relative calm of an Iowa farmhouse, but his upbringing in Chicago--where he was taken for medical treatment when he was stricken with polio--gave him the tough, combative classroom persona that inspired both complaints and compliments from students and peers.

Long fascinated with the transmission of middle-class values within families--particularly Jewish families--Colwell believed that they were crucial for success.

“The reason that attitudes are so important is that success in America is based on having the right attitudes,” he told The Times in 1987. “The only difference that exists between people is the way they view reality. There’s nothing inborn--I don’t care what color people are or where they come from . . . you cannot find any scientific evidence that shows any difference among people.”

Colwell’s bout with polio left him dependent on canes and crutches, so he was sensitive to stereotypes. He tried to challenge them in the classroom by greeting his students with ethnic slurs, which his admirers said were designed to desensitize students to racial insults and move them to an appreciation of people as individuals. Some students reacted with scathing letters of protest, and others walked out of his classes in anger.

“He infuriated some and stimulated others,” said Carolyn Ellner, CSUN dean of education. “He placed a great reliance on shock value. He could shake people up and make them see how prejudices had no truth. His classes were never dull.”

Colwell championed busing and bilingual education as ways to combat social divisions and was a consultant to the Head Start and VISTA federal programs, aimed at improving the futures of racial minorities.

In 1946, Colwell received a bachelor’s degree in philosophy from the University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana. He became a social worker with Chicago youth gangs before moving to Hollywood in 1951, when he took a job as a YMCA youth counselor. He received a master’s degree from Los Angeles State College (now Cal State L.A.) in 1958 and began teaching at CSUN, where he earned the university’s distinguished professor award in 1966. He received a doctorate in education from USC in 1967 and remained at CSUN until his retirement in 1992, when he became professor emeritus.

Colwell met his wife, Carol, on a cruise to Europe. They lived in the Hollywood Hills for a time, then Studio City, settling in North Hollywood with their two children after Colwell received his doctorate. Carol Colwell died in 1985.

Colwell was a dedicated fisherman, taking family and friends on fly-fishing expeditions to Redondo Beach, Mexico and Argentina.

“His character was true,” said John Colwell. “He didn’t have a teaching shtick . . . he stuck to his guns. He was continually abrasive and people loved it. I’ve had so many people say, ‘Your dad has changed my life.’ ”

In addition to his son, Colwell is survived by a daughter, Kim Colwell of Berkeley.

There will be no funeral, but a memorial service will be held at 11 a.m. Saturday at the CSUN University Club, on the campus at Zelzah Avenue and Dearborn Street.

In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the California Council of Trout Unlimited, c/o Kim Colwell, 2137 Browning St., Berkeley, CA 94702. The council is a nonprofit organization dedicated to improving freshwater fishing.